Please note: this article has been automatically translated into English. It may contain Italian expressions that are difficult to adapt to other languages.

del Guelfo Rosa

Yesterday it was learned: in relation to the blasphemous exhibition in Carpi, the Archbishop of Modena, the painter and the curators are “investigated for contempt”. The Prosecutor’s Office wanted to shelve the case but the GIP did not accept the request given the opposition of the lawyer Minutillo.

After 24 hours from the first agency releases, however, at least three aspects – three traps – are already evident that should not be underestimated in judging the affair.

The press with its back straight, very straight. In fact, stiff. It is said that the real news is not when a dog bites a man but when a man bites a dog. And few things are more fitting for this latest case than an Archbishop investigated for contempt. A prelate who, by the way, is Vice President for Northern Italy of the Italian Episcopal Conference. Not only that: last spring, even the international press was bothered about the “Carpi affair”. So not only “a man biting a dog”, but also worldwide. Well, take a look at today’s Google News. It should be a triumph of kilometre-long articles, weighty reflections, heated debates. Instead? Not much: after all, the media coverage given in May to the interminable procession of reparation that the faithful staged, with the organization of various acronyms including Radio Spada, was also very prudent. Social media took care of spreading everywhere the images of a large, orderly and resolute people who composedly reaffirmed the truths of the Catholic Faith.

    But silence is not everything. There are also pieces that would do better to remain in the pen of the journalist. An article accessible online from today’s Carlino, written by Valentina Reggiani, still reheats the narration of the stabbed artist. And here they need to come to an agreement with their colleagues at the Gazzetta di Modena, who on March 29 acknowledged: “It is clear that this is not a stabbing, as had been hypothesized in the hours immediately following the serious incident.” Statements based on a video, but whose whereabouts were not clear. However, nothing compared to the levels reached by Francesca Di Feo who, on Gay.it, shortly after the incident, headlined “The artist Andrea Saltini attacked by a Catholic fundamentalist.” Catholic fundamentalist? And who is he? A good journalistic investigation to reveal the identity of this mysterious character (who not even the police have yet identified) would be desirable almost eight months after the incident. But let’s not ask for too much. Of course: between omissions, blunders, half-truths and chatter, it is clear why the press sells so little. And that is a good thing.

    Human justice (too human?). The fact that an Archbishop, a painter and two curators (including a priest) must answer in court for contempt is a significant fact: there is no doubt about it. But let’s not delude ourselves. Those who still have not understood that the Italian Republic is a liberal state – that is, with a system that “legally” protects false freedom at the expense of true freedom – can still make dreamlike journeys on the idea that temporal power can significantly patch up a spiritual, doctrinal and legal crisis of this magnitude. It would be enough to read Magistero Politico – Insegnamenti papali sulla politica per l’instaurazione di un ordine cristiano, or La rivoluzione guardata negli occhi. Un libro che spiega il passato e racconta il futuro by Mons. Louis-Gaston de Ségur and Mons. Jean-Joseph Gaume, or L’illusione liberale by Louis Veuillot, to understand what we are talking about. The process that is affecting us is centuries-old, profound and does not spare the laws of the Italy of the 3 Rs (Risorgimento, Resistance, Republic), which can ultimately be summed up in a single, immense R: that of the Revolution. Will something good come from human justice? Maybe, but be careful about dreaming.

    The finger and the moon: the crisis in the Church. Spiritual crisis, we were saying. If we cannot think that a journalistic investigation or a court verdict is enough, we cannot pretend that the “Carpi case” can be isolated from what is happening in ecclesial life. It was rightly written in the first statement of the Scopelli Committee that condemned the blasphemous exposition: “In order not to stop at the observation of the evils and to correctly trace the causes, we cannot avoid a general reflection: for about 60 years an active dismantling of doctrine and liturgy has been proceeding in ecclesial life. The disastrous scope of the innovations of Vatican II inevitably touches all fields: if one admits a doctrine and a liturgy that no longer adhere to the Catholic tradition, one will inevitably also admit an art that no longer has anything Catholic, and an ecclesiastical hierarchy ready to defend it. Exactly what happened: simul stabunt vel simul cadent”. Anyone who has browsed  Golpe nella Chiesa. Documenti e cronache sulla sovversione: dalle prime macchinazioni al Papato di transizione, dal Gruppo del Reno fino al presente and Parole chiare sulla Chiesa. Perché c’è una crisi, dove nasce e come uscirne will have clearer ideas on the point. So let’s not stop to look at the finger that points the moon, but let’s look at the moon. A terribly black moon.

    And above all, let’s never despair. Prayer, training, militancy: this is what is asked of us. This is what must be done.

    Full speed ahead.

    Follow Radio Spada on:

    Bookstore: www.edizioniradiospada.com;
    Telegram: https://t.me/Radiospada;
    Gloria.tv: https://gloria.tv/Radio%20Spada;
    Instagram: https://instagram.com/radiospada;
    Twitter: https://twitter.com/RadioSpada;
    YouTube: https://youtube.com/user/radiospada;
    Facebook: https://facebook.com/radiospadasocial    .


    Image. in ev. modified from a work by Pablo Stucchi, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, (WikiCommons)